Top 5 wildlife experiences in Moreton Bay Region
COME face-to-face with the animals that also call this part of the world home. Go for a wander through the bush, hit the water or visit an environmental centre. Try one of our top five experiences this weekend.
Moreton Life
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COME face-to-face with the animals that also call this part of the world home. Go for a wander through the bush, hit the water or visit an environmental centre. Try one of our top five experiences this weekend.
1 BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Leave your worries behind and be kissed by hundreds of butterflies at Bribie Island Butterfly House.
The centre founded by Ray and Delphine Archer, and run by volunteers at Bongaree, is a sanctuary for 19 varieties including the threatened blue Ulysses butterfly.
There you can tiptoe through an enclosed butterfly garden, learn more about the stunning insects, and take a look at the work volunteers are doing in the laboratory to increase butterfly numbers.
Ray says for every 100 eggs a butterfly lays in the wild, only two will survive. But in the laboratory, they have an 80 per cent success rate. On the day Moreton Life visited, there were 1200-1400 caterpillars in the laboratory and it was evident feeding and cleaning up after them was a labour of love. Volunteers are on the job every day.
Metamorphosis can take two weeks. They go from leaf-eating caterpillars with poor eyesight, short stubby legs and a mouth, to a creature that can mate and fly with eyesight 35 times better than a human, long delicate legs and a drinking straw-like tongue.
“It’s like driving a Model T Ford into a garage with a whole lot of banging and crashing for two weeks before everything goes quiet and a jet aeroplane emerges,” Ray says.
He and Delphine moved to Banksia Beach about five years ago from a property between Gatton and Esk, and set up a butterfly garden at home as a way of staying active and contributing to the community.
Their garden attracted more and more people and before too long it was time to move somewhere where high numbers of visitors did not adversely affect the neighbours.
Moreton Bay Regional Council gave them the land where Bribie Island Butterfly House stands today and residents rallied to create the facilities on the site.
“A community of about 160 people has helped with the whole journey,” Ray says.
The centre raises money for charities and at the 10-month mark had donated $60,000.
“The thing has taken off like a noxious weed,” he jokes.
It has been open for 11 months and has so far attracted more than 12,000 visitors, despite being open to the public only two days a week.
A walk through the butterfly garden is delightful with relaxing music playing, the sound of water features and a mist adding to the experience. There’s just one rule — don’t touch the butterflies.
You might damage their legs and wings or give them such a fright they drop dead.
“Most people who come through the entry tunnel are awe-struck. They love it,” Ray says.
“We get a lot of people that are hurting that get some nature therapy here. People are at peace.”
Entry is $12 adults, $10 concession, $7 children (4-15), $34 family (two adults, two children). The centre is at 208 First Ave, Bongaree. Visit bribieislandbutterflyhouse.org.
Phone 0459 104 174.
2 OSPREY HOUSE
Watch in wonder as Ospreys soar over the Pine River, dive into the water to catch fish and take them back to their nests high up in the dead branches of trees or the purpose-built nesting platform.
There’s a camera positioned above the platform so you can see what the resident pair of ospreys is up to. Nesting season runs from March to September.
The environmental centre, owned by Moreton Bay Regional Council and run by volunteers, is also home to shorebirds, koalas and small marine creatures.
While you’re there, you can watch a documentary about wildlife and the environment in the Osprey House Theatre and take in displays.
From October to February, at low tide, you will see many shorebirds that have flown from as far away as Siberia. The centre’s bird hide is the perfect place for close, sheltered and quiet observation.
Queensland Blue Gums and Grey Ironbarks are part of the landscape at Osprey House and provide food and shelter for koalas. Centre volunteers will be able to tell you if there are any around and where you’re most likely to spot them.
The environmental centre is open to the public from Monday to Sunday from 10am-4pm. Boardwalks, barbecue and picnic facilities are accessible at any time.
Osprey House is at Dohles Rocks Rd, Griffin. Visit ospreyhouse.asn.au
3 KUMBARTCHO SANCTUARY and CREEC
Take a walk through the 6ha Kumbartcho Sanctuary that adjoins the South Pine River and is home to many bird species including the white-faced heron, eastern whipbird, golden whistler and others. There’s also evidence of visits by the Powerful Owl.
At the centre you can watch environmental videos, take in a mangroves to mountains diorama with live native fish, and check out touch-and-feel and nocturnal displays.
You could take a guided walk around the sanctuary where you might see freshwater turtles, lizards, frogs and butterflies.
Kumbartcho Sanctuary is open daily from 7am-7pm, the environmental centre is open Tuesday to Friday 10am-2pm. It’s at Bunya Pine Crt, Eatons Hill. Visit kumbartcho.org.au
Just up the highway at Caboolture Region Environmental Education Centre you could see the striped marshfrog, microbats, koalas and native stingless bees.
The centre is set among 18ha of diverse native vegetation near Burpengary Creek on Rowley Rd. The environmental centre It is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4.30pm, and the grounds are open seven days.
CREEC is at 150 Rowley Rd, Burpengary. Phone 3888 8751.
Both centres are owned by Moreton Bay Regional Council and run by volunteers.
4 OUT IN MORETON BAY
Hit the water and see dolphins, dugongs, turtles, fish and whales out in beautiful Moreton Bay.
The crew at Dolphin Wild leave from Newport Marina most days and offer expert commentary on their marine eco tours, boomnetting, guided snorkel tour through Tangalooma wrecks, and time on Moreton Island.
Co-owner Lisa Edwards says the dolphins, dugongs and turtles know her boat, particularly the dolphins who will make a beeline for it. “They come flying over to the boat and ride the small bow waves,” she says.
There are 600-800 dolphins living in Moreton Bay - the shy Indo Pacific bottlenose dolphin and the more sociable common bottlenose dolphin.
Dugongs and turtles prefer the shallow, clear water close to Moreton Island where they feed on seagrass. They too know the boat, pop up and take a look before resuming their feed.
Lisa says Moreton Bay is home to the last big herd of dugongs in the world and it’s not uncommon to see up to 50 turtles in one outing.
A day on the bay is relaxing and great for children. Dolphin Wild also offers guided snorkeling from one end of the Tangalooma wrecks to the other, and there are thousands of fish to see. Visit dolphinwild.com.au
“They see amazing things, go on the island and go snorkelling and get off technology,” she says.
“People say they haven’t ever had an interaction like that with fish. It is so amazing and it’s on our doorstep.”
5 GO IT ALONE: EXPLORE THE REGION
Did you know you can see kangaroos in fairly big numbers in many suburbs across the region, particularly Toorbul? At Toorbul Esplanade Parklands they congregate in family groups, grooming, playing and resting. It’s great for photos, but stay back...they are wild animals.
Sightings may be rare, but platypus have been spotted in the waters North Pine River and Lagoon Creek at Caboolture. They like slow-moving rivers, creeks, lakes and dams, so you never know where one might pop up.
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